Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Bird Migration is Beautiful

National Geographic has created a series of beautiful maps to visualize the amazing migrations of different bird species in the Western Hemisphere. Where Do They Go? is a wonderfully presented introduction to the annual flight patterns of a number of American bird species.

Where Do They Go? starts with an impressive animated satellite map showing the fall migration of a Broad-Winged Hawk. This map animates the route of the birds' migration on top of a moving cloud cover satellite map showing some of the strong winds the birds encounter as they travel around the Gulf of Mexico.

As you scroll through Where Do They Go? a map of North, Central and South America is used to visualize the flight paths of different bird species, the major centers of human population and the seasonal changes in vegetation cover across the whole Western Hemisphere. These maps not only help to explain why the birds undertake these migrations but also beautifully visualize the huge distances that they travel.